


The Sand Dunes

by radiodurans



Category: Historical RPF, Original Work
Genre: 1960s Music, Alternate History - Canon Divergence, Epistolary, Everyone Is Gay, Gratuitous Dad Rock References, Historical, I Read Ten Beatles Biographies And All I Got Was This Dumb Novella, Metafiction, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:54:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 16,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23466448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radiodurans/pseuds/radiodurans
Summary: James Leonard(10 November 1941 - 5 December 1981) was an American singer, songwriter and peace activist who co-founded The Sand Dunes,[1] considered by many to be the foundation for Jersey sound in the late 20th century. He and his younger brother, Peter Leonard, were critically acclaimed songwriting partners, writing hundreds of songs together between 1960 and 1969. With the addition of youngest brother, Derek Leonard, and cousin Michael Greene, the group became international rock stars in the 1960s. He pursued a much-celebrated solo career following the dissolution of The Sand Dunes in January 1970.[. . .]Personal LifeRelationships
Relationships: Original Character(s)/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 1





	1. Preface

**Author's Note:**

> SO. 
> 
> Last summer, very belatedly, Beatlemania came to my doorstep by way of a) becoming biopic obsessed and b) every 60s rock biography costing $10 used at The Strand or on Amazon. I rapidly gained an obsession for the hidden figures at the corner of all of the books I was reading - queer people especially, who were frequently disrespected or erased in these books. The books I couldn't afford I scanned for queer people and took photographs of the way the straight authors talked about them. 
> 
> _Look!_ I'd say to my increasingly exasperated friends. _They're fucking doing it AGAIN!_
> 
> To every friend who didn't say _Yeah of course, bio, people were homophobic when these were written in the 80s_ \- MVPs.
> 
> Anyway, a small related piece from this project got professionally published in a small journal recently and, after a significant amount of time letting the rest of this die in a folder, I think I want to let it breathe free on this platform. I don't really want to pitch this to cishet people and I don't care about their opinions on it. But I would like to put this on some sort of platform for any queer who wants or needs it. And I want to show whoever - one, ten, twenty, a hundred people if any - the first thing I wrote after I started social transition.
> 
> This is messy and unpolished and incomplete and I'm pretty much only posting anything salvageable. Some of it surely has stuff crossed out that I wasn't sure whether or not to keep and edits that I never made. Primarily this is what was supposed to be "part two" of this story collection/novel with some fun appendix stuff, as a treat. I may post more in this universe someday, and there is a chance that I may rehome the story that got published in the small journal to ao3 also under a lock.
> 
> Thanks to about a thousand people but a special thanks to my best friend Avery as well as the following ao3 users: Larkin, shipwrecks, singingtomysoul, Pega, GoldStarGrl, and xlessxthanx3x. 
> 
> Content Warning: Period-typical homophobia, misogyny, and racism. Child and relationship abuse, codependency, internalized homophobia, drug and alcohol abuse. Gratuitous 60s rock lore. Obvious references to John Lennon and Brian Wilson. Inevitable problems with historical accuracy.

“I need to show you something I love - and you can’t laugh.”

These were the immortal words of my first girlfriend, Jenny, before she handed me the enclosed compact disc of _The Light Sessions_. The plastic was warm and sticky in my hands, from the summer, and from her. I turned it over curiously and read the list of tracks inscribed on the back cover. It was a four-disc set: _Light_ in mono, stereo, instrumental, and vocal with numerous bonus tracks on each CD.

“I didn’t know you were one for the oldies,” I said. My girlfriend had been to every concert in Asbury Park that summer and I’d tagged after her. ~~It was 1993, a summer of irony and flannel and people too-cool-for-labels.~~ We stole vodka from her mom’s freezer and kissed all day, intoxicated on our own immorality. The fact that my pierced girlfriend who had indoctrinated me into lesbianism was into a square band like the Sand Dunes was a revelation.

“This one is different,” she said as she leaned back on her hands in that all-too familiar cool pose. Jenny tossed a strand of hair out of her face and looked up at the ceiling of her basement. “It’s _uncensored_. How the album was _supposed_ to be.”

 _Uncensored._ In Jenny Land, that only meant one thing.

“It’s gay?” I said.

“Kris, sweetie, baby,” she crooned. The androgynous name she’d christened me with lit up my skin. “Would I recommend you something from the 60s that wasn’t gay?”

-

The story of how _Light_ came to be is complicated, not just by sexuality, but by family, marketing, experimentation, and time. Its release was underwhelming in comparison to all prior Sand Dunes albums, and yet many of its hits have endured. ‘Seeking Some Sunshine’ is as pervasive nowadays as its contemporaries like ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ and ‘Here Comes the Sun.” Yet fewer documentarians and biographers until recently have delved into the guts of _Light_ in the way they’ve documented _Pet Sounds_ or _Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band_. This is, in part, due to the controversial nature of many of the tracks. Peter Leonard was notoriously hush-hush about their contents until the twenty fifth anniversary of Light arrived. It is no coincidence that these tracks were released ten years after the death of his brother, James. For all that James has been lauded as a figure of peace and sexual revolution, the brotherly relationship between Peter and James was laced with homophobia, fear, and control. When it came to fighting for Peter’s right to insist upon the release of controversial music, his other family members in the band, Derek and Michael, were unsupportive.

Further, subsequent lawsuits surrounding the album paint a clear picture of betrayal of Peter's ex-boyfriend and lyricist, Richard, who never received credit or royalties for their songs until 2000. The contributions of Peter's wife to the album, manifested in both her musical talent and work as a housewife, have likewise been erased by those who choose to believe that the work of great men is made on their own - even when they do not cook their own dinners. Her divorce from Peter in 1985 requested a recoup of lost royalties from both _Light_ and _On the Water._ She did not succeed in winning these terms of the divorce.

The story of _Light_ has been idealized and straightwashed in salacious biographies and documentaries as a singular achievement of Peter Leonard's troubled genius when this is simply not the case. Both the album and the analysis of its contents have been neutered and stripped of the lenses necessary to understand the work. This is a huge disservice to one of the best albums of the sixties, perhaps of all time, and is a narrative I hope to rectify within these pages.


	2. California and its Draw

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was supposed to be a little chapter going into their childhoods and stuff before this. Will it ever be written? Who knows.

Peter had been absolutely enchanted with California after they had spent a week touring there in 1963. “He said to me ‘it’s heaven. Heaven is real and we’re here,” recalls Derek Leonard. Though he’d often been averse to the ocean in New Jersey, he found himself called to the beach whenever they weren’t playing music. “He would have slept on the beach if we had let him,” says Derek. “Ben was often frustrated that we’d have to pull Peter away from the beach at dawn when we toured the west coast. He wrote about a dozen songs centered on California, which did pretty well on the charts. It was kinda funny because a lot of our songs up til then were “Jersey Girls are the best” and “wish everyone could surf on the Atlantic” with a bit of acerbic flavor and then here we are suddenly competing with the California Sound of the Beach Boys. Magazines comparing the two of us and everything. Totally wild.”

Despite his later claims that he’d “rather be dead in New Jersey than alive in California,” James initially took their new marketing in stride. He had always been the easiest sell as the most All-American boy in the band. Unlike his dark-haired, ethnic brothers and his wiry, pale cousin, James’ Italian-English heritage had merged into a roguish boy-next-door look with an easy tan, sandy hair, and deep blue eyes.

“You adapt yourself to your surroundings,” he said, tongue-in-cheek, in 1963. “It’s the same with the public as it is with girls. In New Jersey, you play up your accent and your heritage so you seem like you belong there. In California, you’ve never met an Italian in your entire life. It’s all business.”

Peter used this chameleonic nature to his advantage. James was an engaging lead in New Jersey, California, Wisconsin, and the UK. He was squeaky clean on the Ed Sullivan Show and ground his hips against the microphone stand to crowds of teeny-boppers on tour. He’d sing anything Peter threw in front of him, imprinting old standards and new songs alike with their signature Sand Dunes sound.

“It wouldn’t be exactly right to say that Peter was the brains and James was the voice,” says their cousin, Michael. “All of us wrote songs and contributed to the flavor of the music. However, James established himself as the leader - he took being head honcho of the band very seriously. It was rarely _our_ band. The Sand Dunes was _his_ band. He never liked when we pushed back against him on that.”

In 1964, The Sand Dunes released two albums praising the wonders of the West Coast - _California Shore_ and _On the Water_. In contrast to the band’s fixation on a single state, The Sand Dunes were touring the United States almost nonstop in 1963. Many of the songs on _California Shore_ and _On the Water_ were developed in the back of their tour van that year, Peter plunking out melodies on his guitar powered by coffee or the occasional amphetamine pill. James, another noted insomniac, was often found talking to him in low tones, or quietly strumming rhythm guitar alongside him. They shared one pen between the two of them, as though they were one brain when music was involved.

“James was crazy hard on Peter when he was young. Hitting him and everything. Then, the music happened, and they became thick as thieves,” says Derek.

 _California Shore_ was recorded and mixed in Engelwood, NJ at Van Gelder Studios over the course of a week in February 1964. This wasn’t exactly the band’s first choice. They had already worked with Rudy Van Gelder on their second album, _Little Jersey Girl_ , and were aware that their musical sensibilities were completely different - and that Van Gelder ruled his equipment setup with an iron fist. The recording process was frustrating for everyone, but especially for Peter who had enjoyed the autonomy he had when they recorded and produced their previous album in New York.

“Van Gelder had very strong control over his own studio,” said Peter. “His albums always sounded like a Van Gelder Studios Album. But we didn’t want to sound like Rudy’s band - we wanted to sound like The Sand Dunes! When we recorded in Rudy’s studio, we sounded less like ourselves.”

To the public, The Sand Dunes’ second and fourth albums sounded just as good as anything else they had on the radio.

Unfortunately, collaborating with a less-than-ideal studio close to their family home was as good as they were going to get with such limited time available to them between legs of the tour. There was simply no time for autonomy, and there was immediate demand from Capitol to produce as many records as possible.

Michael, Derek, and James stayed with their immediate family during this time, but Peter insisted on living in his car, frightened of violent conflict with their father. He subsisted on vending machine chips and meals the boys bought for him at restaurants. His father, Murphy, refused to allow the brothers to bring him food from the home fridge.

“If he isn’t living here, he can’t eat here,” he said. 

Ben, who typically would have remedied the situation in some way, was on the first vacation he’d taken in years. He had gone to Fire Island for the week with unearned confidence that the boys could handle themselves in New Jersey. Nobody tried to contact him; to Derek, Peter, and James, this was nothing new.

Halfway through the week, Peter’s girlfriend, Caitlin, ran into Derek and James at the grocery store. She had no idea they were back in New Jersey; their whereabouts had been hush-hush so they could have privacy while they recorded. When she learned what was happening to Peter, she was livid.

“I stormed over to the studio parking lot driving over the speed limit in my mom’s tacky Corvette. I remember that Peter was listening to the radio at a low hum - he was totally unwashed, and the floor around him was covered in wrappers and empty plastic containers. I said, ‘Peter Leonard, no _fiancé_ of mine is going to make a nest of tupperware and live in it.’ Pretty bold of me to say, considering we'd been together less than a year - and he was touring for most of that!”

After a few guilty protests, Peter went to stay at Caitlin's parents' house in Vineland. Before the Sand Dunes went back on tour, Peter and Caitlin got married at a small civil ceremony with the promise that they would have a proper wedding later. He told Caitlin to pick out a house while he was away and to spend however much she wanted. Several months later, Caitlin and her family moved her into a large home in Cape May. She also bought a vacation condo on the shore in California.


	3. Peter's Condo

By March of 1964, _California Shore_ went gold. Four of their singles - _Dreaming of California_ , _California Surfing_ , _Love on the West Coast,_ and a cover of _(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66_ skyrocketed into the Top 40. The Sand Dunes closed out their tour in Los Angeles, California. Caitlin and James’ girlfriend, Cindy, met up with them. Though they planned to segue right into recording, they hit a bit of a snag. In the insomniac post-performance hours, Cindy revealed she was pregnant.

"We were all staying in Peter and Caitlin's condo that was packed to the gills. They only had one bedroom and one of those open plan living rooms. We were sleeping on cots, chairs, couches. When I tell people this, they always ask why we didn't get our own hotel rooms cos we could afford it. But that's just how they were used to living - on top of each other all the time. I will admit I waited until evening hours to tell him the news because I thought he'd make less of a scene. But instead, he grabbed my wrist and said in a very cold voice, 'Let's talk about this outside.' And I felt in that moment that instead of telling him, I should've tried to get rid of it."

James led her to the parking lot behind Peter and Caitlin’s condo. Cindy is notoriously quiet about what was said, but the argument was loud enough to wake the others in the condo and for a neighbor to open the window and threaten to call the police. When Peter got downstairs he found Cindy on the ground, alone, in tears. James had fled the scene.

When James didn’t turn up the next morning, Peter began to panic. They had already spent a lot of money booking [studio], which Peter had judged as optimal for recording. He had hired a number of studio musicians, mostly from the Wrecking Crew, to record alongside them. Now, thanks to James’ bad behavior, he was going to let everyone down.

“Whenever James acted badly, he’d think he was responsible somehow,” said Caitlin. “Always wanted to clean things up. I remember he started pacing and muttering about all the phone calls he’d have to make. Ben and I had to take him aside and remind him that that’s what a manager was for.”

Ben called around and rescheduled the session through the Wrecking Crew grapevine for the following week. Then, he started calling around to bars in the area to see if James had turned up anywhere. Nobody had seen him yet.

"It was a very stressful time for all of us, but Cindy especially," says Derek. "I mean, she had just travelled four time zones while _pregnant_! I never really understood why my brother was like that with his women back then. Maybe it's why he was so pro-woman later."

This statement is indeed echoed in many interviews by James Leonard 1975-80. However, it seems like this pro-woman attitude did not come until after he was divorced from Cindy in 1972.

"The lesbianism I got up to didn't help our marriage either," notes Cindy.

Cindy was so upset that Peter and Derek, adept at peacekeeping, started a sing-along in the living room while Ben was making calls in the kitchen. Michael, who had little experience with this sort of thing, grabbed liquor from the corner store.

In the three days that James was missing, three more songs were developed for _On the Water_ \- _Still Ocean_ , _West Coast Blues_ , and a cover of _(Won't You Come Home) Bill Bailey._ This lengthened the album from nine songs to twelve - The Sand Dunes' longest. To fill out a four part harmony, Caitlin’s soprano voice was assigned to the typical falsetto role. This was the first time a female voice was added to their harmonics; Peter liked it so much that his wife became a semi-permanent fixture in studio recordings for their next two albums.

Notably, none of these songs were designed to feature James' voice. _Bill Bailey_ was tailored beautifully to feature Derek's underrated contralto range with Michael's throaty bass thrumming urgently underneath. _West Coast Blues_ put Michael in the driver's seat almost entirely - his voice took the melody and his electric bass took the place of lead guitar, with Peter's piano driving the beat. _Still Ocean_ was a melancholic ballad led by Peter himself. Caitlin's soprano flutters in and out of the background in the arrangement.

On day four Peter had had enough. Nine of their twelve songs either featured James in the lead or as an integral part of the vocal mix. He rounded up Cindy and Ben to chase down James by car.

"If we had sent the police after James, it would've been all over the news - 'Lead singer of the Sand Dunes assaults a cop,'" says Peter. "He wasn't a 'missing person' anyway. Surely, he'd paid off a bartender somewhere."

The three of them headed in the tour van towards San Boniface, a small city an hour's walking distance from Peter's condo.

"I really questioned going, I did. I considered walking out the door. But I did love James, in my way, and, more importantly, I was very scared of getting an abortion. So, I told myself that rescuing him from himself would convince him to stay with me and help me raise the child - at least financially if not in any other way. Even then, I knew he would be one of _those_ _husbands."_ Cindy gives a characteristically wry smile. "Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person who ever really understood James. _Lucky me._ "

In an interview in 1975, James said, “Peter has always been known as the quiet Sand Dune. But there have been plenty of times where he hasn’t been quiet at all, if you know what I mean.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I mean to figure out a real California town at some point rather than making one up? Yes. SHRUG.EMOJI.


	4. The Search

The city of San Boniface in 1964 was just starting to come into its own. Most of its transplants were artists who were being priced out of Los Angeles but were still determined to make it big. Their adopted moniker was ‘Little Los Angeles,’ and they wore their closer proximity to the beach with pride. [turn this into a real city] They existed in that in-between state of a city that would one day be gentrified, but was still for people in the know. In the spring, kids from San Boniface community college would drive down to the beach and rent out beach houses on the weekends. During the fall and winter, young couples lived in six-month rentals. In the summertime, rich tourists flocked to the beach to their second homes, their maids cleaning any of the remnants of poverty out of their houses before they arrived. Caitlin, who had spent more time in California than Peter, preferred the college students - being only eighteen herself, though non-matriculated. In time, Peter would forge bonds with them too, and was known to sign autographs when in the right mood. But in March 1964, he knew little of the city or its inhabitants other than that his brother was in there, somewhere, ready to cause the Sand Dunes a whole hell of a lot of trouble if they didn’t find him before he started a scene.

San Boniface, like any small college town worth its salt, was brimming with bars. Even at three in the afternoon, people were drinking inside. This drinking culture was assisted by a robust public transportation network of buses that has since fallen into disuse and disrepair. As they trawled through the heart of the city in their oversized van, they each had the same thought - how the hell were they supposed to find the alcoholic in the haystack?

Ben eventually pulled over the van so they could work on the problem systematically.

“He was always _so_ practical,” says Cindy. “Cold, really, at times. He suggested we all split up and look for James in different parts of the town. Well, I started crying - my boyfriend had only just scared the hell out of me alone three days ago, and now I was supposed to deal with him by myself while he was _drunk_ without _any apology_? I refused.”

Peter took Cindy’s side, and volunteered to walk the city alongside her. Ben, realizing the implications of their solidarity, agreed to stay in a group. The three of them set off towards the downtown on foot.

“Here’s the problem when you’re very famous,” said Peter in an interview in 1965. “You can’t get a drink anywhere.”

Fans thronged around Peter when he entered the first bar - Little Joe’s Pub. He could barely get a word in between calls for autographs on skin and napkins. Besides frizzy hair, this experience provided him with only one thing: the knowledge that James was either in an alley somewhere or that he was in a bar that catered to people so old they actually had no idea who he was.

“It seemed very possible that he was in an alley _next to_ a bar that catered to people so old they actually had no idea who he was,” says Cindy.

Ben, who liked partying in his spare time in any local gay scene he could find, had an unfortunate realization. One of the bars he had neglected to call was a gay bar that catered to matching young men with much older men. The few young men at the bar would surely be far too distracted to notice that a dirty, drunk pop star was in their presence, and the older men would probably have few questions. Based upon a long history of disparaging marks about homosexuals, Ben had assumed that James would steer clear of any bar that even hinted at an affiliation with gay culture. Now, he had to break the news to Cindy and Peter that James had apparently hit a new level of self-loathing.

"I wasn't shocked at all," says Cindy. "Absolutely checked out."

Rooster Bar (more affectionately known by locals by the name "Old Cocks Pub") was located on the far end of San Boniface in the same building as an Italian eatery that was a front for money laundering. The owner and bartender, Regis Jonson, had acquired the space after the untimely death of his father left a sum of money large enough for half a year’s rent and a few necessary renovations. The furniture was cheap and the floor was dirty, but the patrons never seemed to mind. For Regis, who had been an “aimless sissy-boy” his entire life, Old Cock’s Pub gave him a sense of purpose and community he’d never had before. He took his role as owner and bartender very seriously, and took a special sort of pride in encouraging compatible sexual matches as well as preserving the anonymity and safety of his customers.

Regis still remembers the day that James Leonard came to visit:

“I knew who he was right away,” Regis says with a smile and a shake of his head. “He was far from the first dirty celebrity who ended up on Rooster Bar’s doorstep. Though I will say he was the first one to dump enough change into the jukebox to play his own hits for two hours.”

James opened a tab and ordered drink after drink. When closing time approached, Regis was unsure what to do. His famous patron was asleep on his barstool and drooling all over the counter. Regis was concerned about the repercussions that might occur if he forced James to leave.

“He could so easily threaten me with business closure if I forced him to do _anything_. It was illegal in those days to operate an establishment that catered to gay men. So, I let him sleep, and stayed the night there myself. When he woke, he ordered a Bloody Mary and some peanuts. I told him there was a sponge in the bathroom he could use to clean up a little - he stunk to high heaven. He gave me kind of a dirty look, but wandered off to wash his face anyway.”

Meanwhile, Cindy, Peter, and Ben converged upon the bar. The tour van became steadily more quiet as they reached the edge of town. A quiet queer solidarity that nobody felt comfortable discussing fell over the van. James, who would mock anyone else for this exploration of sexuality, had freely gone to a gay bar as though doing such a thing was easy for him.

“I looked at Peter and Ben, two people I knew who were just like me, in a way, and I thought, ‘None of us really deserve this.’ But Ben couldn’t say anything - he was too private - and I don’t think Peter had accepted he was. . . _that way_ yet. I certainly hadn’t.” Cindy recalls.

When they pulled into the parking lot of the bar, they were at a loss for strategy. If James refused to come back they would have no legal right to claim him. The car idled for several minutes as they debated who would go in and how.

“Ben was very pale in the face - he never wanted to share this kind of life with us and thought we should stay in the car. But there was no way he was going to get James out of there by himself,” says Peter.

While they were arguing, Cindy got out of the car irritably. She felt “far more pregnant than [she] was” and wanted the whole ordeal to be over with. Peter and Ben trailed after, leaving the car idling in its lot.

“Ben was a regular, but I was surprised to see him with others - particularly a woman,” says Regis. “He was a bit of a loner. Once I realized the dirty celeb at the bar was one of _his_ it made more sense.”

James was roused from a reverie of drink with a tap on his shoulder. His disheveled appearance was “shocking,” Cindy recalls. Peter showed no sign of shock, however. He went “cold in the eyes” and told James it was time to come home. Cindy saw something inside him snap back into place when his eyes met her own.

“If I proposed right now, would you still think I was a fag?” he joked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was always so happy with the concept of this excerpt. The chaotic energy of everyone bouncing off of each other. One day I may repurpose it into something else - who knows.


	5. On the Water Success

The next two weeks were some of the most transformative in their entire careers. Twelve songs were recorded in-studio. By June 1964, four of them would enter the Top 40 - _West Coast Blues_ , _Coast to Coast, Driving Groovy_ , and _Gentle Afternoon_. _On the Water_ was critically acclaimed, with _Rolling Stone_ labeling it a “rocking good album” and the _New York Times_ calling it “great fun.” The band spent long evenings toasting to their own success in the California twilight, drunk on IPAs and their own success. Each of them felt like they were turning a corner both musically and socially. The Sand Dunes became men after _On the Water_ \- serious performers with adult lives and respect from critics and the public.

 _On the Water_ is well deserving of the praise it received. Lyrically and instrumentally dense, it still manages to clock in at a neat 28 minutes. There is a thematic coherence to the album despite the Sand Dunes still being years from consideration as an album band. The album aches with both promise and longing, the cusp of the band’s maturation palpable in the lively text.

Some critics have been quick to label _On the Water_ as the last truly immature Sand Dunes album due to its semi-reliance on oceanic and locomotive themes. However, when compared to earlier albums, this is demonstrably untrue. Gone are verses about surfing with one’s high school friends or the pleasures of driving a Honda. The ocean and the California highways are now full representatives of young adult struggle, of marriage and challenging family dynamics.

Though Peter is the primary lyricist for the album, influence from each member is palpable. Derek’s youthful spirit imbibes the catchy choruses and driving percussion that allow Peter’s heavy material to remain light and graceful. Michael’s bassline gives the album a sturdy foundation, the necessary rock in an album with dense instrumentation. In the nine songs where James is lead, Peter’s maturation, Derek’s innocence, Michael’s foundation becomes his own. James is anyone the music needs him to be; he is the ideal muse.

Caitlin had her own influence on the album - far more than her credit for tambourine or vocals. She'd fallen more easily than she thought she would into the role of the ideal musician's wife. Her support provided Peter, for the first time in his life, some semblance of a healthy and safe home environment.

“I found myself reading - actually _reading_ \- Better Homes and Gardens Magazine,” she says. “My mother would call and ask if I’d considered looking at one of the local women’s colleges for classes but I was too wrapped up in the Sand Dunes and in my new married life to even look.”

The album charted both nationally and internationally, doing particularly well in the U.K., France, and Japan. Ben immediately lined up a national tour for the fall of 1964 and started figuring out the logistics of an international tour for 1965. Before they left California in July 1964, The Sand Dunes recorded an off-the-cuff Christmas album over the course of three hectic days. Then, the four boys, two girls, and their manager went back to New Jersey. It was time for each of them, as adults, to start acting like it.


	6. James and Cindy Get Married

By the end of the summer, Cindy was starting to show. James proposed to her, publicly, at her birthday celebration on August 9, 1964.

“He’d been kinder than he’d ever been when we arrived back home,” Cindy recalls. “It was as though his outburst had never happened. He was full of ‘I love you’s and gifts. Still, we both knew there was something missing between us - the true warmth and affection of two people attracted to one another. But what were we to do? I was pregnant and it was his. So, I said yes.”

The two of them had a rush marriage, their parents fully aware of the truth behind their shotgun union. They wed at the end of August to a small crowd of people - Cindy and James’ parents, Michael, Derek, Peter, and Caitlin. Three days later, the Sand Dunes went on tour. As his brother did earlier that year, James gave Cindy a sum of money and told her to buy whatever house in New Jersey she liked. Unlike his brother, he did not request a second home in California.

“I knew James still wrote letters to Simon, and, occasionally, Simon wrote back. He had given me few details on his relationship with Simon, but it was clear he wanted to keep the bond strong. So, alongside our home in south Jersey, I bought a condo in Hoboken,” says Cindy.

[this seems to need fleshing out here]


	7. Third National Tour

The Sand Dunes' third national tour was a hectic period of creative stasis. Beatlemania had come ashore in August, and there were a lot of girls who were looking to get their fannish fix from any boy band they could get their hands on after the Beatles departed for the UK once more.

"James _hated_ touring that September," remembers Peter. "The girls in the crowd would call out the wrong name - _John! John! John!_ He'd put on a fake British accent to taunt them, but it was rarely audible over the screaming."

In-between tour dates, the boys were subjected to hundreds of interviews. James put no effort into pretending he liked Beatlemania. Privately, of course, all of the boys loved Beatle records. However, interviewers asking him about them were often met with quotes that didn't meet conservative editorial standards. There was a minor outcry when Entertainment Weekly published a crass statement in a profile of James Leonard - _F@ &! The Beatles_! Derek, who was only twenty and the biggest Beatles fan of all of them, was over the moon when they received a direct phone call from the Beatles later that week.

“Ben and Peter were terrified the Beatles would be very angry with us, but they thought it was hilarious. John, especially, had a terrific dark sense of humor as well as an appreciation for our work and could see that we didn’t really hate them,” says Derek. “They even mailed me an autographed album. _To Derek - Four Fucks._ ’”

James wasn’t the only person suffering mental stress during the third national tour. Peter had never really liked being onstage, and now public life was getting in the way of music production. All around him, he could see and hear people making great strides in the field. Each record he listened to felt like competition, and each inane interview he sat through felt like a handicap.

Peter’s writer’s block wasn’t only time or energy - it was intimidation. On their way back to New Jersey in July, Peter heard _I Get Around_ on the radio for the first time. He was blown away by the layered harmonies on the record.

“We were in our tour van all together. I remember telling everyone to quiet down - I’d never heard _anything_ like it. Everything we’d ever written suddenly sounded so inferior. James knew me so well back then - he handed me a pen quickly so I could write down the name of the song when the DJ announced it. After that, I was stuck on it,” says Peter.

Peter wrote to Caitlin every day of the tour:

_My Dearest Caitlin,_

_Enclosed are some photographs from a photo booth on a boardwalk in Florida. Derek and I escaped from the tour van for the afternoon (with the blessings of our Roadies, and Ben, of course.) James and Michael were partying too late the night before so they weren't in the mood to have fun. Derek and I chose seagulls on the beach to befriend and replace the two of them._

_[. . .]_

_Caitlin, Cait, my darling K, I miss you like the ocean misses the moon. Everything in life is before and after you - yet here you are, so far away from me. I await our reunion madly, desperately._

_[. . .]_

_The truth is that I am so desperately lonely on the road. Between the interviewers and fans I’m more surrounded by other people than I ever have been before. Yet none of these relationships are anything but transient. I feel like the dust speck that has gained brief awareness of the futility of its own existence._

_Write soon_

_-P_

“In those days, Cindy and I spent a lot of time together,” says Caitlin. “I’d help her do errands and things like that when she was feeling very pregnant, or just take her to lunch. Early on, I realized that James was not writing to her in the same way, so I lied about the number and type of letters that Peter sent to me. It was lonely because I couldn’t share them with my mother either, due to the profane content, and I’d grown distant from my high school friends who were off at women’s college or having babies of their own in far less wealthy homes.”

It was true that the letters James was sending to Cindy were not nearly so romantic or frequent. Despite Peter, Derek, and Michael all recalling James’ feverish letter writing during this tour, little of it was directed towards his own wife. A typical letter to Cindy was two to three pages long, with basic facts about the tour, casual questions about her life, and fairly generic mentions of affection. Occasionally, he’d pack in a small drawing, or send a gift.

“I knew Peter was sending Caitlin much better letters. She didn’t really need to hide it, and wasn’t very good at that anyway. I had few illusions that James really loved me _like that_. I wrote back, but not extensively - a few pages was enough to assuage his narcissism,” says Cindy.

Years later, it was discovered that the bulk of James’ letter writing was correspondence with Sarah Simon Samuels - then known only as Simon. More accurately, it was correspondence _towards_ Sarah - he received far fewer and shorter letters than he sent. Sarah’s responses showed a clear reticence to re-forming a close bond with James.

The first letter (of many) to Sarah was dated September 3, 1964:

_S.S._

_I don’t know if you saw in the newspaper but we’re on tour again. All I can say is hopefully you have because we’re paying a lot of damn money for our publicist to plaster our faces everywhere. The photoshoots are so exhausting, S, you wouldn’t believe. People poking and prodding at you for hours. Sometimes I think you made the better choice deciding to f**k off and live in your ‘room of one’s own.’_

_(I've been reading Woolf in the early hours of the morning since I saw your newest inspired collection promoted in the Village Voice - can you tell? The painting of Ashley as **Orlando**_ _was amazing.)_

_[. . .]_

_Please feel free to use any of my photographs as a reference for your next collection. The only rule is that the paintings must be obscene! That would be a riot - and definitely gather you some press!_

_[. . .]_

_Peter has a terrible case of songwriter's block. I've been messing around with a few songs without him but it's not the same. He's never really liked touring, but lately he's a **total** wreck - crying at night and everything. Derek has been trying to teach him this Indian relaxation technique called meditation but it doesn't seem to be helping much. I suspect this will be Peter's last tour for a while and that we'll have to find a replacement while he gets his head on straight. Obviously, you're welcome to fill his shoes if we're forced to tour without him. _

_[. . .]_

_Simon, S.S., SOS, we miss you. I miss you. Of late, my soul is a gaping maw and I am beholden to its demands. I was not so hungry when you were around._

_Don't forget to write,_

_JL_

The _demands_ of which James spoke had become, as of late, a dependence on amphetamines. The boys had all used uppers before to make it through practice and tours, but in such an extreme way.

Gus Thompson, one of their younger roadies, often found himself on amphetamine runs for James:

"His appetite for them was insatiable. By two weeks into the tour, it was made very clear that the supply of Preludins had better never approach zero. He'd take a swing at anyone in his way if he requested three and got one."

The daytime alertness only exacerbated James' natural tendency towards insomnia. He increased his drinking at night to cope. In response, Peter became even more anxious about performing. He started having panic attacks every morning that he told absolutely no one about.

"It was like I was outside my body when it happened, looking at myself as only a dead weight," Peter recalls. "My chest and back hurt constantly. But I waved it away as exhaustion - James was clearly doing far worse, and I didn't want to take attention away from him while I was worried he might overdose."

Peter rapidly lost weight, enough so that many were convinced he was over-doing it on amphetamines too. After concerts, he’d prowl around cities in a knit hat and dark coat that covered his chin and forehead.

“I wanted to be invisible, even to my family, for just a few hours a day. I needed to see my own breath in the cold to prove that I was still breathing.”

Michael grew irritated by their erratic behavior as the weeks went on. His personality had never totally gelled with James, and his patience with James’ drug and alcohol use was wearing thin. They drifted apart in their aims in debauchery - Michael over-indulged in bars or parties, soaking up sexual attention from groupies and calls for autographs. Meanwhile, James spent less and less time at parties, preferring to drink alone in the tour van before he wandered off to dive bars to get even more drunk. He would occasionally wander back to the hotel with a prostitute or groupie and spend a few hours rambling incoherently to her before being unable to get it up and telling her to go away.

“James was one of the most vain people I’ve ever known, so avoiding crowds was a real marker of how poorly he was doing,” says Michael. “It was a real drag for us - I was personally scared of damage to our band’s image. I took a swing at him several times.”

Derek, the least troubled of the four, wrote his mother and his friends from high school daily. Most of his letters were pure fluff - lies about how well the tour was going and how happy everyone was to be playing music together.

“I let out all of my frustration on my drum kit,” he says. “At the end of the day, I had no room in my mind for partying or sex. All that mattered to me was the music. When I got letters back that responded to the stuff I just plain made up, it helped me convince myself that those stories were true.”

Miraculously, the Sand Dunes lasted through the final hours of their tour. The boys watched their roadies load equipment for the last time into the back of their truck.

“It was really a fucking mess, all things considered,” said James in a Johnny Carson interview dated to 1975. “But as I watched our equipment disappear, I felt a self-generated warmth inside me that had been gone for weeks. _We’d done it._ Victimized by our culture, drugged to the fucking gills, at each other’s throats - but we’d _done it._ ”

Peter recalls no such joy.

“I sat down on this wooden crate that dug into the back of my legs and put my head in my hands. I thought - _oh God_. Because if that tour went objectively well, that meant Capitol Records would want us to record a new album right away and do it all over again in a month. I couldn’t hold it in anymore - I curled in on myself and started to cry. I remember saying over and over, ‘No, no, no.’ Derek, who was unusually comfortable with physical affection at that age, rested his chin on my head and hugged me from behind. He said, ‘It’s okay, big brother. It’s alright.’”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved writing this excerpt too. The concept of James hating John was so delightful to me.


	8. Return to New Jersey

Peter wasn’t wrong that Capitol would soon come knocking on their door for another record. However, Ben could see that the Sand Dunes were nowhere near prepared and were on the brink of collapse if they didn’t take a break. He reminded Capitol that the Sand Dunes were poised to release the Christmas album in a few weeks, and thus should not be expected to produce a new single before then. The date for return on investment was extended to March with an international tour and album release planned for April, giving the boys four months to write and record songs.

There were personal issues to contend with as well as professional ones. Cindy was eight months pregnant when they arrived home from the tour. James was shaken by the realities of oncoming fatherhood. Cindy was none too thrilled (though unsurprised) that her husband had been bingeing on drink and drugs while he was away and barely seemed to have enough room for himself inside his own head, let alone a _baby_. Nevertheless, he tried to clean up, remembering how much he hated that his father was an angry drunk. Cindy was once again bombarded with forced affection and gifts. His wife, who had become accustomed to a life mostly-devoid of men, felt suffocated by her attempts to reciprocate fake love in their sham marriage.

"Most of the time, I just wanted him to leave me alone," she says.

Derek, eager to set down adult roots, bought a shore home in Asbury Park. He spent his days reconnecting with his high school friends, and invited a few of them to move in with him. Still, he felt a significant distance between himself and his friends, some connective tissue fundamentally broken by his choice to tour rather than move on to the next stage of his life. For the first time, he felt compelled to write music all on his own. Late at night, he would set out a dozen sheets of paper to write music fragments on. In the daytime, he drove around the state in his new VW Bug to play these excerpts to his brothers and cousin.

"I'd spend upwards of five or six hours driving some days," says Derek. "As far south as Cape May and as far north as Hoboken. You become a real sponge for the sounds that are on the radio that way. By the time I got to my own place, I had new material in my head."

Derek was rapidly becoming an excellent keyboard player. Though he didn't have the same brain for arrangements as Peter, his solo melodies were killer. By January, he had written three full songs. At nineteen, he was finally finding his footing as an artist.

Michael, too, was producing music of his own. In contrast to Derek's solo projects (which were wistful and folksy - spiritually closer to the output of Simon and Garfunkel) his focus was relentlessly commercial. For the first time in generations, someone in the Greene bloodline _owned property_ \- and he intended to keep it that way.

"My cousins never really took the time to understand _why_ I was so focused on the market. They had far less to lose than I did," says Michael. "’Art’ is created by the former middle class."

His output brought their next album up to six songs - an entire A-side’s worth without either James or Peter’s input. With no hint at either having written anything, Michael propositioned recording and releasing one of his songs - _Float the Boat_ \- before March as a single with one of Derek’s songs as the B-side. According to Michael, the reactions James and Peter had to the song were like night and day.

“James really liked [Float the Boat.] I think it reminded him of some more carefree days, before he was stuck with a wife and a baby. Peter though - that was the first time I ever got a real sense that there was something ugly inside him.”

Peter took personal offense at the perceived suggestion that he wasn’t producing music fast enough. “The A-sides have always belonged to me, if I’m being honest,” he said in an interview that followed their subsequent album, _Skyscraper_. “It was a big change of pace to see Michael take the lead!”

He insisted that they wait until March to record anything as they had originally planned. Sensing that there would be conflict if February came and there was no music production in sight, Ben booked a small studio in New York City for a week in mid-March of 1965. When he asked if he could take James off of her hands for a week, Cindy, “practically shooed James out of the house. It wasn’t really _done_ in those days to not want the father around - but he was _very_ little help.”

Ben suggested that James stay at Peter’s house for a week so that they could reconnect creatively in a more familiar territory. Caitlin had mixed feelings about having Peter’s brother in their home. Sure, he was family, but he was more baggage than friend. Her recent connection with Cindy had only strengthened her initial distaste for James into strong dislike. However, she recognized that music needed to be made, and that Peter was, of late, struggling to finish or share his songs. She agreed that James could stay for three days to assist in the writing process.

“It was unbelievable,” she said in Cindy’s 2018 memoir, _Ashore_. [I think this book predates Ashore] “Three days - I could have given them one. In eight hours they had Peter’s four half-baked songs cleaned up as well as two new rough-cut songs. It was like they shared one brain, finishing each other’s sentences as they wandered in and out of my kitchen.”

In late January, all of the boys gathered in Derek’s home to prepare for their upcoming recording session. This was the first time that they’d all been in the same room since the tour closed - their adult lives had fragmented them even for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Derek, who had recently started reading about pagan religions and rituals, smudged his home to ward off negative energy before their reconnection. All of them brought snacks, and Michael provided a drug that Derek and Peter had never tried - marijuana. Both of them found the drug to be a revelation.

“Marijuana is a harmless drug that can cure anxiety and other ills in the way few drugs can,” said Peter in a statement regarding Mick Jagger’s arrest for possession of the drug. “The Sand Dunes are in full support of Mick and we hope that the inhumane justice system in his country will see that they have wronged him.”

Together, Michael, Derek, Peter, and James, worked towards making the album have a cohesive sound. Ben contacted the company and told them they'd need an experienced percussionist, a couple of versatile woodwind players, a string quartet, a saxophonist, and a trumpet player. The Sand Dunes felt that they could competently cover rhythm and lead guitar, bass, keyboard, and vocals. Columbia also connected them with an audio engineer who could help them produce music efficiently and with a clear ring to it.


	9. Richard Introduction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I will absolutely admit to some nervousness writing about segregated New York City and even now I hope that I have done by Richard right, who I love ever so much. But I take full responsibility for any historical inaccuracy about period-typical racism, or misrepresenting the mid-twentieth century experience of black sound engineers and sound mixers. Like anything else in this story, a final version would have been tighter.

Born in New York City in 1944, he spent his childhood fascinated with rhythm and blues. His family was working class, so he spent much of his time sneaking into record stores to listen to the newest albums and then sneaking out before the manager could ask if he was going to buy something. The family pooled money to buy him a guitar for his fifteenth birthday. The next year, he bought a tape recorder and began experimenting with crude audio engineering techniques. He and his friends would practice standards on cheap or makeshift instruments in the acoustically sound basement of their church, experimenting with different distances between the tape recorder and the instruments as well as with the musical sounds of non-instruments like spilling rice into a pan or jumping on and off wooden folding chairs. When he and his friends had no access to their space, he would hole up in the library and read books about acoustics.

In 1960, when he was only 16 years old, Richard began pitching his tapes to various record companies in the city. He experienced a significant amount of resistance and even hostility from executives who didn't think black people had a place in audio engineering. He found his in when a friend of his, Louis [last name], became a studio saxophonist at Columbia. Louis was mixed but white-passing, and thus found it a little easier to get his foot in the door. He recommended Richard to the company as a local talent, making sure to pass them along a tape before they brought Richard in for an interview. His mixes won [that Columbia exec in that book] over and, when he was 17, Richard was able to drop out of school to work as a junior audio engineer at Columbia Records full time. He moved out of his parents’ house and in with Lewis so that they could develop ideas they’d come up with earlier that day in sessions and commiserate over a creative environment that was both exhausting and racist. Both of them dreamed about creative independence but it seemed impossible given their circumstances.

All of this limited information on Richard’s youth can be traced back to a single book - _Studio Musicians at Columbia Records v2: 1955-1970_ that was written during the height of rock criticism in 1982 _._ The information found there was cobbled together using a several records of employment, an interview with Richard’s mother, and an interview with Louis. At the time, Richard was touring as an engineer for [band name] and thus had no input into how his public perception was ultimately immortalized in dozens of books about the Sand Dunes.

“He toured a lot between 1981-87 and was hardly in New York City at all,” says Louis. “Five or six bestsellers were written about the Sand Dunes while he was gone. Whenever I passed by a bookstore and saw one, I just shook my head. I knew the authors churning out the books weren’t bothering to contact Richard about anything.”

“He didn’t write anyone who knew him letters or postcards or nothing. No phone calls. Before he left, he said to me - ‘I’m just tired of being here.’ Sometimes I thought about that and wondered if he was dead somewhere.”

Even when he returned to New York City in 1987, Richard was very selective about the interviews he gave to music biographers. The publication of these books without his consent was proof enough that none of them had his best interests at heart. One exception was a conversation he had with one of the definitive Sand Dunes biographers, Bill Smith, a year into his royalties trial with Peter Leonard.

“The amount of information I could get from Richard about his own life was limited,” says Bill Smith in the afterword of _The Sand Dunes: The Biography_. “Perhaps I would have been able to get a little more information on the inner workings of _Light_ if he wasn’t tied up in legal proceedings. But, ultimately, he was a small part of their history so I decided to press on without having all of the information from the trial. After all, _plenty_ of people have sued for royalties to Sand Dunes songs - if I had waited for all of those lawsuits to be finished, I’d be dead before [ _The Sand Dunes: The Biography_ ] reached publication. Future biographers may find use in the documents from the trial should they ever come to light.”

[It is an understatement to say that it’s unfortunate that he didn’t wait. The flurry of subpoenaed letters from the Peter Leonard estate sent from Richard in March and April 1965 have numerous references to what it was like for him to grow up in New York as a young black musician - and as queer. Take this passage, which juxtaposes his experiences as a child sneaking into the Apollo Theater with his attendance at a drag ball in late 1965:

 _. . .All in all, I think this drag ball was the most colorful one yet - not just because of the skin or the clothes but because the venue had installed a new electric spotlight. Reminded me of when I snuck into the Apollo as a kid after my mom went to bed. I used to make up my face back then just to look old enough to see the girls my age sing to drunk men in shiny taffeta dresses. The one difference was that the drag performers could not sing worth a damn. . . _

He also speaks of the estrangement he felt moving into a higher income bracket than his family members and the challenges of working on what his family members considered to be white music.

 _. . .I got into a fight with [brother’s name] a few years ago when he saw the first pair of cufflinks I bought that weren’t pre-owned. The two of us used to be so close when we were kids but he started to treat me like an alien when I got the job at Columbia. He said to me, ‘The music you used to make had **soul**. Now all you make is money.’ I pointed out to him that it wasn’t like I was churning out hits at the Brill Building but he argued back that working with Frankie Valli on a doo-wop standard was even worse. . ._]

Fascinating though his life may be, it is not the place of this album analysis to do an undeservedly shallow dive into the multifaceted life of this complex person. A biography on Richard Johnson, particularly one written by a black biographer, is long overdue. Rather, it is most relevant here to zoom in on his role in this album’s creation in order to highlight his significant creative contributions to this specific work that have long been erased. One day, hopefully soon, recognition that his role in this album’s creation was only a pit stop in his long career will be treated with the weight it deserves.

Fortunately, this book has something a little better than just letters. Richard was generous enough to speak with me candidly about his experience as an audio engineer at Columbia as well as his relationship with Peter Leonard. However, he makes it clear with a wry joke that his childhood is off-limits in our conversation.

“I’m saving those stories for my autobiography,” he says with a smile. “My life has been too interesting to be a footnote in any more books about white boys. You can buy a copy if you want to read something with a little more color.”


	10. Richard's Music

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This section is probably overly technical and is for nerds exclusively.

In 1964, Richard struck up a loose partnership with Associated Recording Studios, which specialized in cutting demos to sell to more famous artists. Unlike most studios, Associated Records did not mass produce their recordings. Because there was far less riding on these recordings, Richard was able to sometimes work music production into his audio engineering duties. He loved having a foot in both worlds, though he lacked interest in writing original songs. Nevertheless, his creative flourishes are unmistakable if one knows where to look. Richard had the remarkable talent of finding the beautiful in the mundane.

“There was nothing that couldn’t be used as music at Associated,” said studio pianist Carl [last name] in an interview with the New York Post in 1971. “I remember one of our audio engineers, a colored man, curated strange objects to play with during recording sessions. This engineer - Robert [sic] I think his name was - would go ‘let’s try this’ before doing something crazy like jangling keys in front of the same microphone being used for our guitarist. But it never made the track sound worse.”

It is very easy to draw analogies between the birth of hip-hop in the repurposing of vinyl among poor communities and Richard’s contributions to popular music borne of experimenting with cheap materials that were available to him from adolescence onward. However, his talent did not only originate in a scrappy upbringing. Richard found great inspiration in other artists of the time period - though he was surprised to find one of these avenues of inspiration to be the Sand Dunes’ _On the Water._

In Bill Smith’s _The Sand Dunes_ , he writes, “Richard was a city kid with a little incurable melancholy so he had a difficult time connecting with the _Sand Dunes’_ surf-and-smile type music. But something about _On the Water_ ’s creative direction spoke to him.

‘I knew someone with a car that had a built-in radio in the mid-60s and sometimes we’d drive down to the Rockaways [an island close to Queens] on the weekends. He especially liked to go in the wintertime when nobody was around and it was very quiet. Less chance of harassment, too, when it was too cold for white families on vacation to go to the shore. That December, _Still Ocean_ broke into the Top 40. It came on while we were cruising, staring out at the dark ocean. A song more melancholy than any nobody could get produced in those days. _Still ocean/carry me away/on the still ocean._ I thought, maybe there was something more to this band than I’d thought before.”

Predictably, Bill leaves out the follow-up question as to whether there was any other reason Richard may have been sad that winter. According to Louis, he’d recently received the double gut-punch of a breakup and familial estrangement when he confided in his aforementioned younger brother that the reason he’d been down lately was because his boyfriend of six months had left him. Their relationship had always been rocky, and this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Richard became preoccupied with melancholy music in a way he hadn’t been before.

“ _On the Water_ was on in our apartment in an unending loop that winter. One afternoon I said to him, ‘Goddamn it, Richard, there has to be a better way to deal with how you’re feeling. You’re going to drive both of us crazy.’ So then he just put on _He’s a Rebel_ by the Crystals which was worse.”

That same winter, Richard began staying late in the evenings that he worked with Associated to play around in the studio alongside a rotating cast of family and friends after all of his coworkers had gone home. It was at this time that he began to blur the line between engineer and producer even further than he was already. Many of these records are lost to time, as they were not mass produced, were recorded on cheap materials, and were more experiments than songs. Most of the recordings that still exist were collected alongside all other semi-anonymous LPs left behind at the studio en masse by the New York Public library following the close of Associated in 1985. Music archivist Dwayne [last name] spent five years attempting to appropriately process and catalog these records.

“Most lacquer records left behind at the New York Public Library by Associated were poorly labeled because the original creators believed they weren’t worth keeping,” Dwayne says in his introduction to the _Associated Recording Studios Collection_ that he published in 2000. “Figuring out what belonged to who was a complex process that involved matching handwriting samples, cross-referencing dates, and searching through records to see who had access to the studio and when they had this access. Due to poor record keeping, particularly poor record keeping about their less famous studio musicians, it was impossible to name all of the individuals who left their mark on the studio. Whenever possible, I tried to reach out to the surviving artists about work that I believed could be theirs, but sometimes even the artists themselves were unsure.”

Richard himself was not a meticulous keeper of records. Most commonly, he labeled his records with the letter R and the date (though there are certain records attributed to him where he chose either or neither.) Dwayne sorted Richard’s lacquer records under Johnson, Richard, and organized them into three collections: _untitled Richard Johnson collection #1 (December ‘64), untitled Richard Johnson collection #2 (January ‘65),_ and _untitled Richard Johnson collection #3 (February ‘65)_. A subsequent collection, entitled _Richard Johnson & Peter Leonard collaborative (March ’65) _was restricted to the archive until 2001, when Richard permitted his work to be featured (with a generous royalties agreement attached) on the _Skyscraper Sessions_.

 _Untitled Richard Johnson collection (#1-3)_ breathes new life into both _Skyscraper_ and _Light._ Take track 4 on _untitled Richard Johnson collection #1_ \- a cover of ‘Mr. Sandman’ with vocals that are widely speculated within the classic rock community to feature Ronnie Spector herself (a reason that no doubt explains why this track circulates widely in bootleg circles.) Rather than inviting a host of singers, Richard has used a 4-track to double the singer’s voice over itself, producing a much more ethereal sound than its Chordettes counterpart. It also contains an unusual combination of xylophone, triangle, sleigh bells, and cowbell in the background - tonal and percussive all at once. The multitrack layering of percussion disorients the listener; it produces the feeling that one is incapable of looking away. This percussive and vocal layering shows up again and again on both _Skyscraper_ and _Light._

Something that unifies all of the _untitled_ lacquer collections is the ubiquitous presence of bells. According to Dwayne, “Records that were unlabeled or poorly labeled often became evident that they were Richard’s if they heavily featured bells. He was fixated on their place in modern music production despite typical perception that they were old fashioned or novelty instruments.” On several records, “[H]e discusses Associated acquiring bells from thrift shops, church choirs, and schools.” In _untitled Richard Johnson collection #3_ , Associated’s new set of Adams Bass Chimes make their presence known on every track. This obsession with bells carries over to every Sand Dunes album after _Skyscraper_ \- whether or not Richard was involved in production.

“When I was a kid, me and my brothers would mess around in pawn shops and music stores in our neighborhood until we were told to leave,” says Richard. “I thought the chimes were the best thing in the world because they sounded beautiful no matter how you played them. Being able to work with those instruments to make beautiful music when I was grown was a dream come true.”

Around the time that _untitled Richard Johnson collection #3_ was being recorded, Richard was told by Columbia that he’d need to pencil in several weeks with the Sand Dunes that March. The back half of _untitled Richard Johnson collection #3_ is colored with homages to the Sand Dunes. This collection, he says, reflects how he approached working with unfamiliar styles of music at the time.

“I bought a handful of Sand Dunes records after I learned they’d be recording with me because that was what I always did when I wasn’t very familiar with an artist or type of music. Sure, I wasn’t crazy about their surf hits, but I was going to need to know how to make their music sound the best regardless of whether or not it was to my taste. What I found upon listening was a group with some of the most inconsistent production value I’d ever heard. It was _very_ clear when a track had been rushed - and _God_ knows who told a pop act to record at Van Gelder Studios. Recording sections from _Oh, Janie_ and _Still Ocean_ at Associated as demos helped me really understand both how I thought the music _should_ sound - and also what concessions I’d have to make with the band about how _they_ felt they should sound.”

[It seems like something should go here to finish this thought but I’m drawing up blank and I need to move to the next section]


	11. Vacation

By early February it seemed that almost all of the Sand Dunes had gotten enough stamina back to record a full studio album. Derek and Michael had been more than ready to get back in the studio for months so that they could do what they loved best - touring. Peter was playing real tunes on the piano again instead of staring at the keys in frustration and he was even talking about touring with some interest.

As usual, the main problem was James. While the jam session with his brothers had brightened his spirits, it had done so by reintroducing drugs into his life. He immediately became unproductive as both a musician and a father and spent most of an entire week holed up at a bar near his house. The Sand Dunes were again faced with a recording session where their lead was threatening to be missing in action. Recognizing the seriousness of the situation, Ben called the three functioning Sand Dunes to a meeting about an idea he had for an intervention.

“The idea was that he’d take James to some ski resort in Vermont to dry out and get some exercise,” says Cindy. “Peter, Derek, and Michael were definitely invited but I think all of them were so sick of James that they just wished him well and let him go. Ben offered to send out a call for a nanny to help with the baby. I told him that a nanny would be more helpful than James anyway.”

At the beginning of February, Peter, Michael, and James nervously said goodbye to their frontman and their manager with great hope that this would lead to a productive recording section in March. Ben booked them a hotel at [Vermont ski lodge] and promised to have him back in tip top shape to record their next album - tentatively named _Skyscraper._

-

What followed has been subject to much rumor over the years. Many historians have made bold claims over what occurred when James and Ben went on vacation to Vermont. All of them are dubiously sourced (some from a tongue-in-cheek James courting the controversy later in his life) and thus none confirm that anything untoward happened between the two men. Of course, this hasn't stopped anyone from building tall tales about what might have happened as in this passage from _Surf!: The Sand Dunes in Their Generation_ by Philip Nelson:

_In February of 1965, Ben seized the opportunity to finally make his feelings known to James. The plan had been brewing in his mind for some time - figure out a reason to get James alone and then profess his feelings dramatically. Ben shared the unfortunate tendency of all homosexuals towards both secrecy and flamboyance. His confession would have to occur at the perfect place and time - or else why do it at all?_

_As luck (or, perhaps, un-luck) would have it, James was having an awfully hard time drying out in the month before they were due to record **Skyscraper.** The pressures of fatherhood and musicianship had caused his chronic problems with drugs and alcohol to appear floridly - and his wife, busy as she was with the baby, could hardly support him to her best ability in this troubled time. Sadly, his family members were tiring of his behavior as well and no longer felt capable of taking matters into their own hands. Like a vulture, Ben swooped in with an idea that nobody was willing to see as self-serving. In those days, it was common to go upstate for health-related reasons - particularly if one was wealthy and had a hard time staying dry. One can only imagine the look of feigned sympathy on his face as he offered to whisk James away to a ski lodge for an entire week so as to put a stopper on his incurable drunkenness._

_Vermont in February was lovely, with the mountains capped white and the sky a vibrant blue. One can only speculate what the two of them may have discussed on their train to [ski lodge]. Perhaps there was laughter; perhaps solemn discussion of the work that would await the Sand Dunes when Ben and James returned to New Jersey. Ben took great pleasure in how cozy James looked in his winter gear, and surely told him so with full knowledge that he was incredibly susceptible to flattery. There is no doubt that James would have softened to this and thought – yes, I am here to get better._

_While it is true that James saw at least one doctor in Vermont during his brief stay, it is unlikely the doctor really did anything of value. Ben and James spent most of the day together every day in Vermont – James, healing, and Ben, dropping breadcrumbs of homosexual temptation in front of him. If he had been paying attention, perhaps he would have recognized Ben’s behavior for what it was: careful seduction. According James’ 1973 interview in **Rolling Stone** , “[Ben] really taught me about the world of homosexuals in Vermont.”_

_Midway through the week, Ben likely tired of obscuring his motivations. He had desired James Leonard’s supple body for years at that point and it was unclear if he would get the chance to reveal his feelings properly ever again. Ben likely would have started with the simple – a head on the shoulder, a held hand, an ‘I like you very much’ – before one night tugging at James’ clothing and making his intentions clear. James, inexperienced (though possibly curious), succumbed to his advances. It is likely that he allowed Ben, the more worldly of the two, to take the lead._

Lest one think this abundance of unsourced “maybes, likelies, and probablies” is unique to _Surf!,_ that is sadly not the case. _Surf!’s_ publication enshrined these accusations into official Sand Dunes lore; it has been cited in almost every Sand Dunes biography published since 1985. The one exception is oral histories, such as The Sand Dunes Anthology, where it is nevertheless approached by interviewers as a theory that is both reasonable and plausible. This is despite numerous sources, including the _Surf_ \- cited James Leonard profile in Rolling Stone, directly refuting that this theory is nonsense. According to the provocateur in question:

“Christ, you know how many times I’ve been asked about Vermont? It’s unbelievable that I’ve been forced to have an official stance on a _vacation_ I took ten years ago. People are so small-minded that they can’t conceive of a situation where a gay man and a straight man spend time together without one molesting the other. I mean, grow up! It’s 1975, you know?”

Most of Ben’s colleagues and friends (save for the few Sand Dunes associates who felt it appropriate to publish salacious and discredited memoirs) believe he would never have had sex with a client. According to lesbian writer Deb [last name], “We all knew Ben in the New York bar scene. He was gregarious and sexual and he drank too much – took too many pills too. But he kept that totally separate from his work. We used to watch his interviews sometimes on the news in my apartment - groups of us with stove-popped popcorn and five cent beer. The one time he joined us we said to him, Ben how can you be this whole other person ninety percent of the time? He said, _I was born to do this work_. He said, _Everything else is window dressing_.”

There is evidence to suggest that this vacation succeeded at two things: getting James sober enough to record an album and making him paranoid people thought he was gay. James hadn’t been dry enough prior to his trip to process any potential implications about it, but he certainly was afterwards. His sober mind became absolutely fixated on asserting his heterosexuality when he arrived home. One evening, Cindy says, “I was cleaning the house and I spotted a trash can full of torn paper. I fished around in it, wondering what it was, and realized it was letters to and from [Sarah]. Not all of them seemed recent – and nothing in them was exactly _unexpected_ – but it was immediately clear why they were in the trash. Well, I had a sinking feeling by then that he’d try and divorce me someday, so I really had no choice but to steal them.”

James also requested that they make the announcement that he was married official – unfortunately opening up Cindy and their son to a fierce wave of harassment by numerous angry teenage girls who believed that James Leonard was their true love. By March, Cindy requested that the house staff open the mail for her before she saw it so that she could avoid starting her day with hate mail. She also added more security detail to their house out of fear that someone would attack her (as their letters so often threatened.) America wept and gnashed its teeth that James Leonard had finally settled down – and with a woman who wasn’t even famous!

“But hey, at least he was able to keep his heterosexuality intact,” says Cindy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story started out as conflicting accounts of this vacation - extrapolated from the unfortunate rumors surrounding John Lennon and Brian Epstein. Probably unfounded but harmful all the same. I don't think all of those excerpts are shareable, and I may do something else with them, so I will not post them here. Who knows where they may end up?


	12. Recording of Skyscraper

CBS 30th Street Studios in New York City was built in the remnants of an old church and has the acoustics to match. The Sand Dunes had recorded two of their albums there already by the time they headed to New York in early 1965. However, this was the first time they were recording in New York after the ousting of their father from management and the boys were vibrating with excitement. Peter, especially, knew that they were on the cusp of creating something very special.

“Ben rented us each a room at this fancy hotel in midtown as if we were going to do any sleeping there,” says Peter. “None of us were in the mood to sleep – we gathered in the room that was assigned to James and stayed up all night as if we’d taken uppers. I think Derek, Michael, and I probably would have gotten more rest if we had been able to take something that night, but we were all being very careful around James who we feared was fragile. This session felt breakable, like one wrong move would tank the delicate balance we had found.”

Derek’s version of the story is a little dissimilar.

“Michael and I definitely smoked weed before we went to CBS 30,” he says. “We just hid it from Peter because he doesn’t have a poker face. Both of us slept fine that night.”

The four boys and Ben poured into CBS 30 the next morning to scope out the space. They shook hands with the musicians and started to get to work.

-

Skyscraper is an odd album for the Sand Dunes. It is obvious that all four of the band members were struggling to create something cohesive before they came to New York City. In contrast to _California Shore_ and _On the Water_ it is, thematically, all over the place. Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to write off _Skyscraper_ as a throwaway album, a messy precursor to the much-praised _Light_ that would arrive a year and a half later. The songs are as delicately constructed as ever and the studio space the boys were inhabiting is legendary for its audio quality.

And then, of course, there was Richard.

“The two of us got along right away,” says Richard. “Peter had an intuitive command of the studio, as well as respect for the time of both the engineers and the musicians. Our conversation flowed so naturally as though we’d been working together for years. It was rare for me to get that kind of respect from producers or to connect with another person that way, period.”

Richard added his own personal touches to each of the songs on the album. According to Derek, “He was the best engineer we ever worked with – ate slept and breathed the studio. We thought he might have lived there.”

The album was recorded over the course of two weeks – hectic, intense, and wildly creative. Each night after their first, Michael, James, and Derek passed out cold in their hotel rooms with barely any time to talk. Peter and Richard, of course, got up to a little something else – though whether that is only their tapes, of course, is up for speculation. Peter and Richard are both tight-lipped about the details of the week they spent together outside of the music that was made – and even that is a new development for Peter himself. Whether or not something deeper occurred between the two of them, the music that was made during this short period of time is vital to understanding the story behind _Light_. Select tracks of _Richard Johnson & Peter Leonard collaborative (March ‘65)_ deserve their own analysis in order to understand the foundation of _Light_.

[This section should maybe be longer but I’m not entirely sure?]


	13. Untitled Collaborative: A Track by Track Analysis

_Richard Johnson and Peter Leonard Collaborative (March ’65)_ is collected on a small collection of 20 tapes [and we can talk later here about how the recording process of pressing to CD and stuff happened but right now we are not going to talk about that – also just like, write something earlier about how some of the stuff is tapes.] The tapes can be sorted into three separate types: speech-as-vocals (4), instrumental experimentation (8), simple demos (4), and full demos (4). The four full demos were significant enough that these were burned into several more durable records and brought home with Peter to New Jersey and, later, to California where they reside in the archives of Columbia records. It would be a mistake to claim that the sixteen incomplete demos were not relevant, however. Peter’s notebook, initially subpoenaed for _Leonard v. Johnson (2001)_ , contains detailed notes on their collaborative. He has graciously allowed them to become public again for the uses of this book.

**Speech-as-Instrument**

The voice as an instrument in and of itself is a long-running theme in American popular music. Peter was not the only musician utilizing this way of sound creation in 1965. In California not too far from where _On the Water_ was recorded, Brian Wilson was experimenting with similar techniques for the Beach Boys’ album, _Party._ The _Party_ sessions include conversation, laughter, and strange vocal sounds that, when mixed together expertly, produce the effect of being at a party. It’s unlikely that Peter had exposure to these tapes. However, the Beach Boys had experimented with the concept of speech-as-vocals less subtly in earlier tracks, such as _“Cassius” Love Vs. “Sonny” Wilson_ on Shut Down Volume 2 (1964) and _Bull Session with the “Big Daddy”_ on The Beach Boys Today! (1965). Inelegant as these tracks are, they absolutely influenced him. Explicit note of this is found on _Richard Johnson and Peter Leonard Collaborative (March ’65) – track 4_ :

PETER: I wrote a script for us this time. We can read through it a couple of times. *artistic rustling of the pages by the microphone; laughter*

RICHARD: Am I playing your brother?

PETER: For now. I’m hoping James might have a sense of humor about himself someday.

RICHARD: You might be waiting forever.

PETER: You might be right. Can you laugh into the microphone again? I like how it sounds.

Tape 4 is one of wooden humor and will not be reproduced in full here (though it can be found in full on _The Skyscraper Sessions_ ). Tape 2 is equally inane, consisting mainly of laughter and knock-knock jokes read from a dime store joke book. It is tapes 1 and 3 which contain far more interesting content. These tapes contain recorded discussion of the foundational sounds and themes of _Light_.

Tape 1 is a rambling conversation between Richard and Peter that goes unbroken for the entire tape. Both of them are obviously intoxicated. Here, Peter discusses at length his thoughts for their next album:

PETER: None of the music we've been - been producing, I don't think it's what we are _meant_ to do. I think we can do better than this, than what we've been doing. Yanno, right before we came here, I heard the Beach Boys' _Today_ \- you heard that one yet?

RICHARD: Yeah, it's great.

PETER: It's f---king phenomenal. I cried at that first track - that cover of _Do You Wanna Dance_? My wife asked me why I was crying and all I could do was show her, you know? She was saying, are you crying because it's beautiful or because it's not yours? I said, jeez Cait, that's the question right there.

RICHARD: _Don’t Worry, Baby_ could’ve been one of yours. Sounds a lot like, um –

PETER: _Stay, Baby,_ I know. But _When I Grow Up to Be a Man_ – it doesn’t sound like anything we’ve made. But I wish it did. I want it to. *clinking of glasses*

RICHARD: Tap your nails on the glass up and down. I want to hear it later.

PETER: Ok. *more pronounced clinking*

RICHARD: That Ronettes single last year – _Walking in the Rain_ – you could’ve done that. You could do it now, I could find some ocean noises or something for you to mix into _Float the Boat._

PETER: Anything would make that song better than it is right now. _That’s_ the kind of stuff they want to keep making, forever. Just – pithy sunshine-y – well, I wouldn’t call it trash but –

RICHARD: You can call it trash if you want. It’s just me here.

PETER: It’s not trash. It just doesn’t have the kind of artistry we’re capable of. Or maybe that _I’m_ capable of – I dunno.

RICHARD: I don’t either but – I think you guys are probably growing out of it for sure. Your brother has a kid, right?

PETER: James has a _whole baby now_ but you wouldn’t even know it from our music. You wouldn’t be able to tell that any of us were more than sixteen.

PETER: James has a _whole baby now_ but you wouldn’t even know it from our music. You wouldn’t be able to tell that any of us were more than sixteen.

RICHARD: Seventeen, maybe.

PETER: Maybe seventeen. It’s not even obvious that we’ve ever _had sex_ – at least not from our stage personas. Michael always nixes me on making it a little sexier and James wants us to never grow up. I think maybe I could just talk to them if we never went on tour and were allowed to collect ourselves and come to terms with who we are musically outside of all the touring. But our record label has had us touring almost non-stop for the past four years.

RICHARD: You could just tell them no. I know you’re not supposed to but it sounds like you’re miserable.

PETER: I could never. James would skin me alive. Or kill himself on tour without me.

RICHARD: Have you ever thought about what you want, though? Instead of what he wants?

[Silence]

RICHARD: You know, my brother cut me out this year for not. . .being the kind of person he wanted me to be. For making the wrong kind of music. For making the wrong kind of money. For having sex with men. He called me a race traitor and a f-----t. 

PETER: I'm so sorry.

RICHARD: Don't be. I spent so much time thinking I wouldn't survive it - and then I did. I f--ked two guys in his honor that night at Rooster's, three blocks up from here.

PETER: You didn’t!

RICHARD: One of them was white. No ass to grab onto.

PETER: Ha! I guess if you can’t prove them wrong.

RICHARD: That’s what I’m saying, though! Sometimes you have to go your own way, separate from what anyone else wants or thinks about you. You gotta embrace the parts of yourself other people think are ugly. For you, maybe that’s not touring anymore, even though you’re supposed to. Writing music out west in one of those gated communities where I’m not allowed. 

PETER: We don't live in a gated community!

RICHARD: Peter, most communities are gated for me.

[Silence]

PETER: It's hard because I feel like I can't write music when James isn't around, but I get tongue tied about the things that are on my mind when he's so. . .there.

RICHARD: You can find new collaborators. More. . . open-minded ones.

[Silence]

PETER: Richard, at night I think about terrible things. My family, drugs, death. And probably the worst - when my wife is laying beside me, I think, God, I love Caitlin so much, so why am I having these thoughts about. . .?

RICHARD: Other women?

PETER: Other _people._

RICHARD: Other people.

PETER: I want to write music about all of it - all of those thoughts that keep me up at night. But then I sit down at the piano and I just see James' face -

RICHARD: You can write with other people, I promise, Peter. Let's go, right now. Key of Ab. You have perfect pitch - find it.

[Papers rustling. Peter hums an Ab octave.]

RICHARD: Good. Now help me find a rhyme for "likes boys" because I did the math and "suicide" is a bad fit.

PETER: Rich!

RICHARD: If you don't like it, find something better. Make me feel something.

[Silence]

RICHARD: Show me what your thoughts sound like when you should be sleeping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still love these two - I hesitated to post this one because I'm not sure what to do with them even today. Maybe I'll figure it out someday.


	14. On Biography

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was obviously meant to close out a much longer document.

# On Biography

It is difficult to avoid being sycophantic about an artist one loves. This is especially true when one sees an element of oneself in that artist - eg if both of you are queer. There is no getting around the fact that I see aspects of my own narrative in the story of how _Light_ came to be. Uncovering the less savory elements alongside the parts of the narrative that have brought me recognition and joy has been a challenging experience. At times, I wondered if I even had the right to tell this story at all. Though they are far from the worst people in the rock god pantheon, the Sand Dunes are nevertheless white men who have benefitted from the pedestal upon which they have been raised - monetarily, socially, and narratively.

In these pages, I have done my best to tell the story with firsthand accounts but there are regrettable gaps. James Leonard and Ben Kaplan passed away long before this book was ever conceived. This limits the direct firsthand account nature of this book. I invite readers to imagine both what these gaps say about the historical record and what they might have meant to the people who left them behind.

Likewise, Caitlin Stevens neé Leonard and Sarah Samuels only agreed to limited interviewing during the creation of this book. Both of them retreated to private lives as visual artists following their separation from the Sand Dunes. Cindy Evans neé Leonard has been much more outspoken in recent years about her experiences as James Leonard’s wife, but is still mum on many personal topics. When possible, I have tried to avoid the common pitfall of Sand Dunes biographers of reading too much into what these persons have not said. Unlike the persons covered here who are dead, Sarah, Cindy, Richard, and Caitlin may still have stories to tell in their own time before they pass on. I am grateful that they shared the information with me that they did.

I was lucky enough to attain personal accounts from Peter and Derek Leonard as well as Michael Greene, and many other friends and associates who graciously gave me their time. Many thanks also to all those who provided me with documents produced by the estates of the dead - particularly James' second wife, Romy, who provided numerous letters and journal entries tucked away in the James and Romy Leonard estate. I invite readers to come to their own conclusions about the reliability of these sources.

Last, but not least, I invite you, dear reader, to take nothing I say at face value. Like my interviewees, I come to the story of _Light_ with many biases, including the privilege I was born into and a personal attachment to this work. Read this book with a critical eye and an understanding that it is, above all, one version of this story.

In the Sand Dunes' own words _: Only God knows/the things we left unsaid._


	15. Appendix - Discography

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These are some doodads from my folder - the names/track listings of albums as well as what Light was supposed to sound like.

**AC WIPEOUT & SEVEN OTHERS **

Columbia [information]

June 1962

_SIDE ONE_

  1. AC Wipeout
  2. The Boardwalk
  3. (Buy You) Soda-Pop
  4. Suzy Q [cover]



_SIDE TWO_

  1. Prom Queen
  2. Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home) [cover]
  3. Little Miss Millie
  4. Derek Calls Shotgun



Produced and mixed by Peter Leonard, Murry Leonard, and _____. Recorded at CBS 30th Street Studio, New York City, New York, April 1962- May 1962. James Leonard: vocals, guitar; Peter Leonard: vocals, guitar, piano; Michael Greene: vocals, bass; Derek Leonard: vocals, drums, percussion. _____

**LITTLE JERSEY GIRL**

Columbia [information]

September 1962

_SIDE ONE_

  1. Little Jersey Girl
  2. Ocean City
  3. Surfer’s Flight
  4. Pretty Little Beach Girl [adapted from ‘Pretty Little Dutch Girl’ c. 1940]
  5. Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini [cover]



_SIDE TWO_

  1. The Prom [cover]
  2. Peggy Wants Me
  3. Young Love
  4. Kissin’ Time [cover]
  5. Stuck Home



Produced and mixed by Peter Leonard, Murry Leonard, and Rudy Van Gelder. Recorded at Van Gelder Studios, Englewood, New Jersey, August 1962. James Leonard: vocals, guitar; Peter Leonard: vocals, guitar, piano; Michael Greene: vocals, bass; Derek Leonard: vocals, drums, percussion. _____

**ROUTE 444**

Columbia

January 1963

_SIDE ONE_

  1. In My Hot Rod
  2. Route 444
  3. Turn My Ignition
  4. Suzy's Deuce Coupe
  5. Tin Indian



_SIDE TWO_

  1. She’s A Dyno Queen
  2. Drivin' on the Beach
  3. Pride of New Jersey
  4. Little Girl (You're My Miss America) [cover]
  5. Cherry 97s



Produced and mixed by Peter Leonard, Murry Leonard, James Leonard, and Michael Greene. Recorded at CBS 30th Street Studio, New York City, New York, Oct 1963- Nov 1963. James Leonard: vocals, guitar; Peter Leonard: vocals, guitar, piano; Michael Greene: vocals, bass; Derek Leonard: vocals, drums, percussion. _____

**GARDEN STATE SUMMER**

Columbia

May 1963

_SIDE ONE_

  1. Pretty Jersey Girl
  2. Garden State Summer
  3. Little Louise
  4. Bonfire Baby
  5. Stuck in the Backseat
  6. Stick Shift



_SIDE TWO_

  1. Alone on the Beach
  2. Lonely Sea [cover]
  3. Oh, Janie
  4. Sha-La-La



**CALIFORNIA SHORE**

_SIDE ONE_

  1. Dreaming of California
  2. (Get Your Kicks on) Route 66 [cover]
  3. Love on the West Coast
  4. California Surfing



_SIDE TWO_

Produced and mixed by Peter Leonard, James Leonard, and Rudy Van Gelder. Recorded at Van Gelder Studios, Englewood, New Jersey, February 1964. James Leonard: vocals, guitar; Peter Leonard: vocals, guitar, piano; Michael Greene: vocals, bass; Derek Leonard: vocals, drums, percussion. _____

**On the Water**

Columbia

May 1964

_SIDE ONE_

  1. Coast to Coast
  2. Driving Groovy
  3. That’s My Girl
  4. Car Crazy Cutie [cover]
  5. All American Cruise
  6. Deuce Coupe Tune



_SIDE TWO_

  1. Still Ocean
  2. Angel Baby [cover]
  3. West Coast Blues
  4. Gentle Afternoon
  5. (Won’t You Come Home) Bill Bailey [cover]
  6. Stay, Baby



Produced and mixed by Peter Leonard, James Leonard, Derek Leonard, and Michael Greene. Recorded at ____, Hollywood, California, May 1964. James Leonard: vocals, guitar; Peter Leonard: vocals, guitar, piano; Michael Greene: vocals, bass; Derek Leonard: vocals, drums, percussion; Caitlin Leonard: vocals, percussion. _____

**A Very Sand Dunes Christmas**

Produced and mixed by Peter Leonard, James Leonard, Derek Leonard, and Michael Greene. Recorded at ____, Hollywood, California, June 1964. James Leonard: vocals, guitar; Peter Leonard: vocals, guitar, piano; Michael Greene: vocals, bass; Derek Leonard: vocals, drums, percussion. _____

**Skyscraper**

Produced and mixed by Peter Leonard, James Leonard, Derek Leonard, Michael Greene, and Richard Johnson. Recorded at CBS 30th Street Studio, New York City, New York, March 1965. James Leonard: vocals, guitar; Peter Leonard: vocals, guitar, piano; Michael Greene: vocals, bass; Derek Leonard: vocals, drums, percussion; Richard Johnson: percussion, assorted. _____

**The Sand Dunes and Friends**

**Light [1966]**

Seeking Some Sunshine

Left Unsaid

  1. Opener. He’s appreciating California and a new life of music, feeling finally free of the constraints of performing live. Everything feels more vibrant and more quiet all at once. I think this would probably be a hushed but excited number full of bells and maybe laughter - maybe if you mix um like………...same energy spiritually as ‘That’s Not Me’ but also sort of blend in like the...tempo of Be My Baby you know. Claps, snaps, and sunshine. Harmonics. Like this sense of LIBERATION. Definitely some car imagery, energy here. Sun over the horizon you know. Those California palm trees that are new to him (and the people he’s fallen for/is falling for). But also this is through the lens of conversation with his lyricst you know. Major key.
  2. Track two. More contemplative. Taking in surroundings. Languid - melancholic (?). New stages in life, intimidating nature of new beginnings. Comfort of companionship. Ocean sounds/ reminiscent of ocean sounds. Solo. “Lonely sea” but not so much vocal harmonies.
  3. Track three. Jaunty - “why do fools fall in love.” High tom action. Harmonic. Guitar, stripped down backing. Bop.
  4. Track four. Slowed down. Self discovery. Harmonic with a strong lead. Little percussives like triangles, tambourines. Complexity, building, confusion (juxtaposed keys - minor in bassline, major voice?). Sensual but not erotic. (Censored)
  5. Track five. DRUG SONG. Obv ‘I Know There’s an Answer’ is insp. Though I think not so many bells, but I love the horn energy here. Sitar/tanpura? (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is too. . .languid in most of it and i’m not sure if i like the even beat in the chorus for this song in particular but i like the lyricism and definitely those strings - like if there was a unique strings arrangement with some of the horn energy of i know there’s an answer and the lyrical energy of lucy. Also, much imagery of men and their bodies.) (Censored)
  6. Track six. VINTAGE HORNY ENERGY on this track. We’ve reached the midpoint, a quasi state-of-no return. Definite R&B slow jam energy on this track, both musically and lyrically contributed to by boyfriend. All the trappings, we have hella sax, piano, oboe, and SEXY. LYRICS. (For 1966) Strong lead; few harmonics. This, theoretically, is James’ money shot. (Censored)
  7. Track seven. HARMONIC. ANGELIC. Think ‘‘Our Prayer.’ The morning after - ‘I just consummated my love with this guy.’ (censored)
  8. Track eight. Actual cover of “you’ve got to hide your love away” [or this universe equivalent?] but in three part harmony, or interplay - guest female singer (peter’s wife). Stripped down backing but not slightly different than the Beatles original, like maybe a piano instead of rhythm guitar? Or maybe have an overdubbed bass on the lead (which could be cool.) (Censored - third male voice removed)
  9. Instrumental. Winds, chimes, short drum beats, strings to sweeten up. The sound of a revving vehicle passing by. What's that panic! Song - "under the green umbrella tree in the middle of summer." That aura. Driving with the wind in your hair, the radio on, in the company of someone you love in the summer. "He was just hanging around then he fell in love"
  10. Track ten. BUM. BUM. BUM, BADUMBUM. Think of like - "I'm waiting for the day" drums. Would there be a way for an electric guitar to not totally drown out the drums? I think so. But almost a completely opposite mood lyrically to "waiting for the day." Very "I DIDNT look before I leapt and this is new and scary!!" Overdub on James voice.
  11. Track eleven.
  12. Track twelve. Contemplative, slow tempo. Speculative - maybe some ‘futuristic’ sounds, like theremin bullshit but also, whooshing - waving a fan at a mic, and breathy voices. Strong lead with occasional harmonic background. Start off minor key and build to end in major. We’re looking at the future and hoping it’s bright but it’s scary. This is a transformation both of the artist and of the musical styles of the band. We hope the future accepts us the way we deserve. I don’t really have a “comparison song” but I feel like this makes it pretty clear



**Sunny-Set [1967]**

**Rip Current [1968]**

**Asbury Park [1969]**

**Oh, Goodbye [1970]**

Light Sessions [1997]

Skyscraper Sessions [2001]


End file.
